The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1887-02-05
TINEPIECES.
A ,yEWELER GIVES SOME IN
SIGHT INTO HIS CRAFT.
The Artisans Guild Of OLD Eng land
Queer Fancies In Watches
Shown at the Paris
Exposition.

watch making Is an interesting one, anu
I often think how few of the many curl
Gus -pectators and purchases who stand
daily around my windows understand
ANYTHING about it'
TIE individual who gave utterance to
the above expression of opinion was the
proprietor OF an old -eStablished jcwelry,
watch and cock store in one of the main
.horoughiacs of the city.
"Tte invention of clock driven by
we ght is, 10y many, attributed to a
famous archdeacon of Verona IN the
ninth century," he continued, land b.
others is credited to teIbert, afterward
Pope Sylvester H., who made the cock
OF Magleburc in a9i, when he was an
archbishop. My belief, however, is that
the invention OF this prelatc cannot be
set down in the category of clocks, for
1t is described in very cd history oil
invent;ons-Re :kmann's, | bclievc-as q
timcp.ece which was set by looking at
the Pole star through tube There is
no doubt, however. that genuine clocks
had been invented before the commence
ment of the twelfth century. 1t may
seem st angc, but it is nevertheless true,
that watch making is the outgrowth or
offspring of the older bat ruder TRADE of
blacksmith ing.
Although there is no watchmakers'
union in Chicago, or ind, ed any city in
the In ted States that have ever heard
Of, ( is nevertheless fact that away
back in the reign OF Henry VII. of Eng
land there existed in London a watch
makers union which was one of the most
powerful and famous of the trade guilds
Of that city.
9Th, SC ancient guilds originated,
believe, in tn old Saxon law, which de-
mandei suretics from every freeman
of the age of fourteen " ars for his good
behavior. This custom, or law, which
survived under Norman rule, compelled
artisans and workmen of every descrip-
ton to combine IN associations organized
to meet expenses imposed upon MEN,
bcrs for violation OF the law. The guilds
were divided into two branches or sec
tons, one of which was denOminated the
ecclesiastical and the other the mercan-
tile TIC ccclesii>ti | guilds were under
.he guidance and control of chuTchmcn
and had for Their principal object the
advancement of religion and the cause of
charity.
1.-THE mercantile branch contained all
The trades associations and had certain
rules Tor the improvement of the par
ticular craft to which the members be-
longed. Ancient though the watch
makers guild is acknowledged to have
been, there were many whose inception
was many generations older. Among
these may be mentioned that of the
weavers, which Was the oldest trade guild
in the world, its charter dating from the
reign of Henry II. The skinners, bakers,
and tish-monsers' guilds were also much
more ancient than that of the watch
makers. Twenty years before the watch
makers were chartered, in 164l, they
were in orporated with the blacksmiths.
"Although in the international ex-
hibition held in Paris in rs the French
and Swiss exhibits formed fully four
ffths Of the many hundred specimens OF
workmanship in the watch making de-
partment there is no doubt that America
Is rapidly coming to the front in the
manufacture of this as in all other ar
:icles.
Among the many curiosities in clock
manufacture sent in from Switzerland
wero variety Of watches which would
run for one month after being wound.
A clock was sent there from Paris which
was said to b. able to 90 for fifty years,
but this was totally eciipSed by a time
piece from Geneva in Switzerland, which
wdr solemnly guar eed to be capable
of Running for one thou and years.
there is no on, alive at present able to
say VIII ther this latter assurance has
ever Iccn carried into effect, and life
was to, short to wait to see whether the